IR laws risk the economy, says OneSteel chief

Geoff Plummer
believes Australia’s industrial relations laws risk entrenching unions where they have not earned the support of members. But the
OneSteel
boss says employers need to work with unions as labour markets tighten.

Mr Plummer, who comes from a human resources background, says OneSteel has worked hard to have good relations with its employees.

“We took the approach when Work Choices was in not to aggressively utilise those provisions to attack the unions because our view was it was a tight labour market," he said. “What really counted was, did we have the people we need, were we paying an appropriate market rate, and could we be competitive on that basis? – it was up to us to have good relations with our workforce."

But he said while OneSteel’s position hadn’t changed, there were “significant risks" to the broader economy from the government’s workplace laws.

“I think what we’re doing is moving to make changes to entrench the unions’ position through regulation rather than unions convincing the workforce there’s a good and valid reason for being members," Mr Plummer said.

“In many areas, unions have trouble with influence because they don’t have membership support. They don’t have membership support because they haven’t been able to demonstrate to the workforce that there’s a good reason to be part of the union."